You are too kind, Doc. I love my mom and she is a beautiful woman, she is super smart and independent and I’m proud of the life she built after my father left. I tell her this as often as I can.

I think she is just very closed and doesn’t express much. I do catch her talking about me to family or friends, and she sound…

Yawning maybe worse. I keep hyperextending my jaw. That shit HURTS!

My grandmother was like this about me. And my dad. My mom is more of a realist (and also happens to be a stone cold fox, which is rude). It’s nice to think there is a little tiny bit of truth to what someone says when they see you that way, it’s like it makes it kind of real - even if it’s just through their eyes.

Agreed. I know why my parents pushed me, but it would have been nice to hear that I was doing a good job. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to be “better” and it’s exhausting.

i am her father, and i asked here ‘cause she does have a great mom, who i listen to. i have not told her i think she needs to lose weight, but it has been bothering me A LITTLE, NOT MUCH. i’m glad i’ve asked this here - learning a lot.

Just...support. Parents should be supportive. And tell their kids that they are good people and beautiful and can do whatever they want IF they put their minds to it. Because you can be beautiful without being classically pretty...some of the most beautiful people I know, if I were to cross them on the street I…

Come to the Bay Area! Same classic depression flavor - but better weather!

Same. I was always pushed to be smart and participate in a million different activities. It does make me a little sad too, though. I’ve spent a lot of time picking myself apart and I wonder if a little encouragement in that department would have helped.

She’s very self-conscious herself, I think she has trouble expressing things like that. Now that I really think about it, she has never told me that she is proud of me or thinks I am smart. She rarely says I love you.

Wow. Now I’m sad. hahahah this is not the thing I wanted to suddenly realize on a Friday

I just wrote a long post about how my mother did the exact opposite. I have come in to my own now and think I am quite attractive but it took years of therapy to see myself that way. Hug your mother.

Yeah, similarly, I had undiagnosed anxiety before I moved to NYC, but it definitely got worse once I got here and thus forced me to confront the fact that being afraid to go to work is probably not normal.

Trust me, the world will tell her she’s not thin enough - regardless of what she actually weighs - sooner than later. There’s no need for someone she loves to tell her what other girls, guys, magazines, and movies are already shoving down her throat on a daily basis.

Yes. This is precisely what I was going to say. Parents often see the whole person — and are so attached to that “beauty of the great mystery” of the person. I know that I’m totally enamored with my son.

Thank you for this image. Giggled out loud when I saw it. My cat makes the same face!

My depression only got diagnosed in NYC

And the reverse is also true. no one like a mom to point out that you gained 5 lbs or have a pimple. My mom dragged me into a dermatologist office when I was 27 to ask “what could be done about my wrinkles.” He looked at her like she was insane and said, “um, she doesn’t have to do anything.” It’s the flip side of…

As someone who struggled hard with self-image for decades, I totally sympathize with your thoughts about how important it was to have an external voice telling you that you’re not a hideous monster. I was mercilessly teased as a child in school, for my fairly mild eczema, my glasses, and my generally nerdiness. And so…

omg it IS true!! puppyyyyy

lol this is so true. My elder brother got married recently, and we just received all the wedding photos of our family. My grandmother and I were looking through them, and she said, in all seriousness, that she has such a good looking family. I smiled, yes that’s nice, we had all cleaned up well and were dressed nicely…

That was the sweetest story...you have the most amazing family.